Rename Transform

Other ways to rename:

• It's easier to rename columns through the user interface. 
  • To rename a single column, double-click the column name or select Rename... from the column drop-down. 
  • To rename multiple columns, you can select values in the Column Browser and perform batch renames. See Rename Columns.
• Transforms that generate new columns might support the as parameter, which enables specifying the name of the new column. Using the as parameter avoids the extra step of adding a rename transform after column generation. 
  • See Derive Transform.
  • See Extractkv Transform.
  • See Extractlist Transform.
  • See Merge Transform.
  • See Nest Transform.

Basic Usage

Rename a single column:

rename mapping: [oldName,'NewName']

Output: Renames the column OldName to NewName.

Rename multiple columns:

This transform supports multiple methods for renaming two or more columns in a single step. See below for examples.

Syntax and Parameters

rename: col: column_ref [prefix: 'strPrefix'] [suffix: 'strSuffix'] [mapping: [column1,'newColumn1Name'], [column2,'newColumn2Name']] [on: `patternOrLiteral`] [with: 'replacementString'] [sourceRowNumber: intRowNum]

For more information on syntax standards, see Language Documentation Syntax Notes.

col

Identifies the column or columns to which to apply the transform.

Usage Notes:

prefix

For batch rename using prefixes, this parameter specifies the string value with which to precede each of the column names. 

Usage Notes:

suffix

For batch rename using suffixes, this parameter specifies the string value with which to append each of the column names. 

Usage Notes:

mapping

An array describing the old names and new names for each column to rename.

Example:

Transform step:

rename mapping: [column1,'FirstName'],[column2,'LastName'],[column3,'Phone']

Usage Notes:

on

For batch rename using find and replace, this parameter specifies the pattern or string literal to use to match values.

Replacement values are specified with the with parameter. 

Usage Notes:

with

For batch rename using find and replace, this parameter specifies the literal string values with which to replace the found pattern.

Find patterns and values are specified with the on parameter. 

Usage Notes:

sourcerownumber

The row number from the original source data which contains the values to use to rename all columns in the dataset. The row is removed from its original position.

Usage Notes:

Examples

Rename a column

In the following dataset, the length columns do not include any units of measure. 

Source: 

Transform:

Perhaps you know the units are centimeters. You can rename using the following:

rename mapping: [LengthX, 'LengthX_cm']

Now, you want to convert the units of measure to inches. You can use the derive transform to convert values and generate a new column name:

derive type:single value: (LengthX_cm * 0.393701) as:'LengthX_in'

You might want to reformat the generated values using transforms like the following, which rounds the results to two decimal points:

set col:LengthX_in value:NUMFORMAT(LengthX_in, '##.00')

Repeat the above steps for the other length columns. 

Results:

You can delete the original columns if needed.

Rename multiple columns

Source:

Transform:

Add prefix:

rename col: column1,column2,column3,column4,column5 prefix: 'new_'

Add suffix:

rename col: new_column1,new_column2,new_column3,new_column4,new_column5 suffix: 'a'

Find and replace:

rename col: new_column1,new_column2,new_column3,new_column4,new_column5 on:'_column' with: 'Field'

Manual rename:

rename mapping: [newField1a,'firstColumn'],[newField2a,'secondColumn']

Use row as header:

rename sourcerownumber: 2